(1) The Street’s timeless “Weak Become Heroes” Embodies The True Spirit Of The Rave and UK Garage
From the streets of Birmingham to our earholes, UK garage house icon Mike Skinner (AKA The Streets) delivers us a time-honored, quintessentially British number that would resonate with ravers anywhere. “Weak Become Heroes” pays homage to the emotionally liberating experience of a fucking good party: people congregating to get high, act without reservation, love without discrimination, and find equal worth in all. But beyond its rave banger status- “Weak Become Heroes” encapsulates UK garage’s foundation as a movement of Britain’s socio-economically oppressed youth. Since the 80s, lower class adolescents have sought escape in the no-frills lifestyle of pumping dance music in dingy spaces at heart-stopping Hertz. 1994 Criminal Justice Laws saw the attempted policing of such parties, which only fueled the fire from which garage’s underlying message emerged: do not yield, rave on.
“All of life’s problems, I just shake off//They could settle wars with this// All races, many faces from places you’ve never heard of”
Skinner uncovers the rave’s escapist appeal in a tale of his first night out. It is here that a 16-year-old Mike’s familiar world of “grey concrete and deadbeats” is replaced by a utopia where “people are all equal”, and “smiles are front and behind”.
The lyrics ooze with genuine awe, a wholehearted faith in the definitive values that dictate rave subculture. Skinner in this way identifies some of the historical foundations of dance music and it’s roots- the fierce emphasis on loving one another, and equality. House music, in particular, reflected a point of protest against the stigmatization of black identities, gay communities, and other minority groups. Raves became known a safe space for such groups to express personal agency, away from the eyes of society.
“And to the government, I stick my middle finger up//With regards to the criminal justice bill//For all the heroes I met along the way”
Despite its holistically applicable message, “Weak Become Heroes” remains dedicated to lower class, the garage heads of Birmingham. Skinner delivers line after line in an unapologetically thick Birmingham accent. “Weak Become Heroes” is saturated with cultural jargon only local residents could fully gage, indicating this sense of exclusivity: “Geezers on E’s and first timers, kids on wiz, darlings on Charlie”.
Vividly and beautifully, “Weak Become Heroes” captures the essence of rave as a slice of heaven in the mundane pie of working class reality- making it a timeless piece of UK garage music.
Lucy Li is a Melbourne-based writer, you can follow her on Twitter
